To grow, to develop and become the best at your “art” is a meaningful calling. Joseph Campbell writes: “Art is the making of things well. The aim of Art is the perfection of the object”. “If you follow your bliss, you will always have your bliss money or not. If you follow money you may lose it and you will have nothing” (J. Campbell Reflections on the Art of Living” p. 39)

Ideally, to successfully innovate; we need to feel passionate about and love what we do. We also need to feel our work – our “art” is beneficial to others. That is the rocket fuel that can propel us to new heights.

What keeps teams or people from performing optimally?

Sadly only 30 percent of employees in America feel engaged at work, according to a 2013 report by Gallup. For many work is a depleting, dispiriting experience, and in may ways, it’s getting worse. Demand for our time is increasingly exceeding our capacity — draining us of the energy we need to bring our skill and talent fully to life. “Increased competitiveness and a leaner, post-recession work force add to the pressures. The rise of digital technology is perhaps the biggest influence, exposing us to an unprecedented flood of information and requests that we feel compelled to read and respond to at all hours of the day and night”. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/opinion/sunday/why-you-hate-work.)

To maintain engagement it is important to have enough rest and renewal. Over work, stress and a lack of capacity leads to burnout. Interpersonal conflict, unaware leadership and not feeling valued or appreciated add to the malaise that causes disengagement, lack of commitment and turnover.

When people and teams feel connected to a shared vision and mission that is inspiring and larger than themselves, positive energy and appropriate actions result. When relationships are trusting and safe enough to give and receive feedback and engage in constructive conflict; everyone becomes “smarter” than anyone one. Kurt Lewin – PhD, a Harvard psychologist found that “When we are in a supportive environment we are better equipped to deal with the complexities of our working lives”

As times change, technology advances, new applications and opportunities will emerge. Yet, we need to always keep the timeless qualities that make us “successful” and feel fulfilled. Excitement, energy, common purpose and dedication come from feeling, that we are doing what we do best and are challenged to better in the service of “something” larger and beneficial to others.

“When completely caught up in something, you become oblivious to the things around you, or to the passage of time. It is this absorption in what you are doing that frees your unconscious and releases your creative imaginations”. Rollo May, The Courage to Create

The privilege of a lifetime is being
who you are.
The goal of the hero trip
down to your jewel point
is to find those levels in the psyche
That open, open, open,
and finally open to the mystery
of your self
being Buddha consciousness,
the Christ.

That’s the journey
(Joseph Campbell) Reflections on the Art of Living – A Joseph Campbell Companion

“Find a place where there is joy and the joy will burn out the pain” .

According to Campbell, Satan is the epitome of the intractable ego. That part of ourselves needing to be right, to defend ourselves, feeling separate, better than or not as good as others depending on our beliefs, dogma and life’s situations. Hell is the concretization of your life experiences, a place where you’re stuck, the wasteland. In hell, we blame others for our condition and are so bound to ourselves that grace cannot enter. What is hellish is being stuck without hope, without relief.*

How we mature, depends on taking responsibility for our choices, no longer blaming others, or expecting rescue from them. And to acknowledge the pain of loneliness however much we are invested in social roles and relationships. (James Hollis) Swamplands of The Soul. The mature person i.e. one who is psychologically free : “is confident in his inner world, responsible for his strengths and weaknesses, consciously able to love himself, and thus, able to love others”…. Marion Woodman

In a simple and poignant description of the human condition, and of growth; Jolande Jacobi, a Jungian analyst writes: “Like a seed growing into a tree, life unfolds stage by stage. Triumphant ascent, collapse, crises, failures, and new beginnings strew the way. It is the path trodden by the great majority of people, as a rule unreflectingly, unconsciously, unsuspectingly, following its labyrinthine windings from birth to death in hope and longing. It is hedged about with struggle and suffering, joy and sorrow, guilt and error, and nowhere is there security from catastrophe. For as soon as a man tries to escape every risk and prefers to experience life only in his head, in the form of ideas and fantasies, as soon as he surrenders to opinions of ‘how it ought to be’ and, in order not to make a false step, imitates others when possible, he forfeits the chance of his own independent development. Only if he treads the path bravely and flings himself into life, fearing no struggle and no exertion and fighting shy of no experience, will he mature his personality more fully than the man who is ever trying to keep to the safe side of the road.”
J. Jacobe, The Way of Individuation

There are two gremlins we face every morning.

Fear: I am too tiny it is too hard… I can’t do it.

Lethargy: – chill out tomorrow is another day…

Each will eat us alive… Fear and lethargy are the enemy they are not out there they are inside
Carl Jung wrote: The spirit of evil is the negation of live force by fear… only boldness can overcome that fear.
If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is violated”

Our task is to recover our personal authority and discern the meaning of our lives.Who are we to stand in its way?

“I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I’ve knocked from the inside.” — Rumi

All of our trouble flows from being separated from our instincts. C.G. Jung

Freud stated that “The price of civilization is neurosis”. Neurosis meaning being someone you are not, being split from your natural truth and being defined by an external definition of who you are. Living a life that is authentically yours; means being connected to your passion, using and developing your gifts and natural abilities in ways that are meaningful, useful and satisfying. This is what vocational integration is. To get to this place requires some reflection and being ‘real” with your self. Asking the larger and important questions can greatly help this process.

Below are powerful questions from James Hollis, PhD that can help ease access to deeper insights. Asking the “right” questions; stimulates our thinking to seek to find answers. We need to ask and be open and receptive to the messages we get. Having solitude and quiet allows us to hear and discern the answers that come. Each may take some time so you may want to choose the one or ones that resonate the most with you at this time.

The Questions:

How do you know what is true for you? How did you lose your personal authority in the first place? Did you lose it through adapting to circumstances?

What core ideas – are the defining ideas of my life?

What has brought you to this point in your life? Fate? Family influences?

What parts of history have framed your world? Are there repeating patterns that make us prisoners of our history?

Which pieces or parts of your life are working for you?

What constricts you?

What messages did you internalize? i.e. We are here to make money; I have to be perfect, successful; have children and make them successful…

Why does so much feel like a script that has been written for you?

Am I choosing security over truth?

Am I doing what my peers do?

Do I change and grow and how?

Why is so much a disappointment?

Why do I hide so much from others?

What gets pushed underground in my unconscious?

Where do I experience the transcendent?

According to Jung, the highest calling is an appointment with our “self”. We have an appointment with ourselves and not all of us keep it. We need to mindful and discern where spirit is working in all areas of our lives. If the life we have lived has been too small and it may be too small for most of us; the task of recovering ourselves is opening to largeness of our journey.

There are two gremlins we face every morning.

Fear: I am too tiny it is too hard… I can’t do it.

Lethargy: – chill out tomorrow is another day…

Each will eat us alive… Fear and lethargy are the enemy, they are not out there they are inside. We awaken only to fall back into the comfort of our past life.

Jung also wrote: ” The Spirit of evil is the negation of live force by fear… only boldness can overcome that fear.

If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is violated.”

We all have a task and it is; the recovery of personal authority and discerning the meaning of our lives. Who are we to stand in its way? We are responsible for finding meaning in our lives.

We can look at symptoms like depression, anxiety, addictions and compulsions as ruptures in our false self. James Hollis also writes this is the psyche or our “self” trying to break out of the confines of the acquired or false self. So welcome a symptom. The psyche which has been captive may have a different agenda than the one our ego or acquired identity is following. Symptoms may be the psyche no longer able to cooperate in going along the path we are taking. Similar to the reins of a horse correcting us when we stray.

Jung believed that every patient knew at some all level what they needed to do. We all need to become our own psychotherapists
and heal the bridge and split from our natural truth. The self knows you have always known. This is the knowledge of the head in service to the knowledge of the heart which gives insight and the courage to live our lives.

If you knew what you are truly capable of, would you move forward into your life with tremendous enthusiasm and very little self-doubt?

Find your voice and a place in your life where your brilliance can shine through. There is something we all can do to bring us a sense of satisfaction and meaning. Find what you love the most in life. Search inside for that deep passion or restlessness, and allow yourself the quiet and peace to give it full expression.

There is genius in every one of us, as a natural part of our birthright. Let it come out. The German Poet Rilke wrote: “Our task is to be defeated by ever larger things” .

References and suggested reading:

Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally Really Grow up. James Hollis PH.D, Gotham books New York, NY 2006